~ UNIX and Linux System Administration

Return to Window Maker (on Xubuntu 15.10)

I’ve been running Xubuntu 15.10 (Wily) for a while now, having converted from Ubuntu using the repositories. I converted to lower the memory usage, especially considering that my two most often used applications are Firestorm (a third-party viewer for Second Life) and Google Chrome (not Chromium). Using these two apps then lead me to further reduce memory usage by using Window Maker once again. (Note that the name is two words: the project’s original name was objected to by a maker of software for makers of windows and doors.)

I talked about this before in this blog (back in 2011). Several things have changed since then, beyond faster and bigger hardware. The wmaker-crm fork is now the source for Ubuntu Window Maker and is in active development. Free(code) has 145 projects tagged as “Window Maker” projects. Distrowatch lists a couple dozen active distributions that use a Window Maker desktop. Window Maker now has a entry in the Free Software Directory. There’s even a live CD called Window Maker Live.

Others have written about Window Maker as well. Barnaby has a nice write up on their Window Maker setup and resources. Duncan McGreggor has a fantastic description of their use of Window Maker (thought from 2009). Also from 2009, the information from Joshua Price remains useful, as does this information from Rowan Rodrick. A wonderful comparison (with Part 1 and Part 2) of the memory usage of desktops over at the Layer 3 Networking Blog, including a beautiful graph: Window Maker comes in at 7Mb, 9wm at 0.4Mb, XFCE at 70Mb, and Unity at 192Mb. (That means I went from 192Mb usage – to 70Mb – down now to 7Mb. Wow!)

The Arch Linux Wiki describes Window Maker installation and configuration extremely well. However, in current Ubuntu installations, there’s no need to build from source: one of the most recent Window Maker versions will be available (0.95.7 currently). There’s also no need to install the menu package, as it is automatically installed. So to start, just:

apt-get install wmaker

In configuring Window Maker, you’ll want some dockapplets. (I just searched through the apt repositories for apps that had a “wm” prefix or had a “.app” suffix.) Right now I am running these:

wmdrawer

wmsystemtray

wmclockmon

wmcpuload

wmmemload

wmdiskmon

wmtemp

wmnd

wmwave

wmstickynotes

All should be in the apt repositories, except wmdrawer which you can activate from right-clicking on the Window Maker prefs dockapp and selecting “Add Drawer.”

Once they are started, you will have to move them from the minimized icon shelf at the bottom, over to the dock on the right. Press Alt and drag the icon over to the dock. If it triggers something in the applet, find a sliver of border and Alt-drag using that. You should see a white block in the dock when there is a place to drop the applet.

The Ubuntu Window Maker experience is much more polished now: the menu package is required (negating the need for a special installation), and it comes with 9 workspaces. I configured mine to use “focus follows mouse” and “autoraise selected window” – which can simplify things a bit, but is very different from the modern “click to focus” method.

As someone noted in the previous article, there is no need to run wicd if you don’t want to. The standard Network Manager works just fine, and you can manipulate it from the system tray (the dockapp wmsystemtray) just by running its system tray applet:

nm-applet &

My system tray also includes input language changer (using ibus), copyq (copy buffer manager), kupfer (program launcher), clementine (a music player), veromix (a mixer), solaar (for Logitech wireless devices), and the Google Chrome access icon (good for operating Chrome only for Chrome application purposes). Except for Chrome, all are included in the Ubuntu repositories. (If you want to type in Japanese as I did, add anthy as well – also in the repositories.) To install the complete set:

apt-get install ibus copyq kupfer clementine veromix solaar anthy

You can activate shadows and transparency and faded windows (on losing focus) with compton:

However, over at Box-Look.org, they have numerous Window Maker themes that appear to be fairly recent.

To set the background, use the wmsetbg command as before:

wmsetbg mybackground.jpg

Note that this will set all monitors and all workspaces to the same background. You can specify which workspace in the wmsetbg command, as well as update the default. I haven’t found a way to set individual monitors to different backgrounds yet.

Mei Douthitt

Mei is an experienced UNIX and Linux system administrator, a former Linux distribution maintainer, and author of two books ("Advanced Topics in System Administration" and "GNU Screen: A Comprehensive Manual").